Psych 201 USI Exam Prep

The scientific of behavior and mental processes

early branch of psychology using introspection to reveal the structure of the mind

(Unreliable)

early branch of psychology exploring how mental and behavioral processes enable organisms to adapt, survive, and flourish

branch of psychology that studies objective behavior

branch of psychology that studies mental processes

tendency to search for information supports our preconceptions and to ignore or distort contradictory evidence

tendency to believe that you would have foreseen an event, after the event occurs.

tendency to overestimate the accuracy of our beliefs and judgments

A population is the entire group that you want to draw conclusions about. A sample is the specific group that you will collect data from.(Sample is taken from the population)

everyone in population has an equal chance of being included in sample

use whatever population members are easily available

participants may be biased or untruthful due to social costs

subtle changes in word of question or scales can affect responses

a systematic, objective observation of people. The goal is to provide a clear, accurate picture of people's behaviors, thoughts, and attributes

• drawn from descriptive research describe events, persons, situations, or conditions accurately.
• no cause-and-effect relationships can be determined since there are no experiments involved.

an observation that two traits or attributes are related to each other (thus, they are "co"-related). a measure of how closely two factors vary together, or how well you can predict a change in one from observing a change in the other.

The correlation coefficient indicates the strength of the relationship, ranging from -1 to +1. The closer to 0, the weaker the correlation. A positive coefficient indicates a positive relationship, while a negative one indicates an inverse relationship.

Pros: Useful for exploring naturally occurring relationships and generating hypotheses for future experiments. Relatively quick, inexpensive, and unobtrusive.

Cons: Cannot determine cause-and-effect. Directionality problem - which variable influences

Third variable problem: an unseen variable may influence the relationship. Correlation does not equal causation.

aims to determine cause-and-effect relationships between variables. It involves manipulating one or more independent variables and measuring their effect on one or more dependent variables, while controlling other variables.

Independent variable(IV) - the variable that is manipulated/changed by the researcher to observe its effects.

Dependent variable (DV) - the variable being measured for changes in response to the IV.

assignment to groups controls for individual differences and allows causality to be inferred.

lack random assignment.

Eliminating bias. Neither those in the study nor those collecting the data know which group is receiving the treatment. Treatment's actual effects can be separated from potential placebo effect.

Effect involves results caused by expectations alone.

Pros: Establishes cause-and-effect relationships. High internal validity when properly designed. Can test theories and hypotheses.

Cons: Artificial conditions may lack external validity. Ethical issues in manipulating variables. Risk of harm to subjects. Resource-intensive.

Statistically significant results (e.g. p < 0.05) mean the results are unlikely due to chance alone. However, clinical/practical significance also matters.

provide physical support by binding neurons together

help keep myelin healthy

• Positive-outside, negative inside state of a neuron: -70mV

Open when a chemical (like a neurotransmitter) binds to exterior of the channel 

(Like pumps)

open when the interior of the neuron become more positive

Neuron stimulation causes a brief change in electrical charge. If strong enough, this opens gates to allow positively-charged sodium ions to flood in, producing a momentary depolarization called the action potential.

This initial depolarization influences the electrical charge of the next portion of the axon. Gates in this neighboring area now open, allowing positively-charged sodium ions to flow in and depolarized that area. Meanwhile, other gates in first part of the axon, allowing potassium ions to flow out, repolarizing this section.

As the action potential moves speedily down the axon, sodium/potassium pumps in the cell membrane finish restoring the first section of the axon to its resting potential.

enables muscle action, learning and memory

influences movement, learning, attention, and emotion

involved with mood, hunger, sleep, and arousal

Helps control alertness and arousal

influence perception of pain and pleasure

Opioids are agonist of endorphins. They block something.

Botox is an antagonist. They enable something.

neurons in the brain and spinal cord

sensory and motor neurons that connect the CNS to the rest of the body

external aspects of the body; voluntary functions

Medulla: controls heartbeat and breathing

Pons: involved in sleep

direct sensory messages (expect smell) to and from the cortex

coordinates movement output and balance, and enables implicit memory

linked to fear and aggression

involved with bodily maintenance (hunger, sex, body temperature)

processes explicit memories for storage

out-layer of cerebral hemispheres; body's control and information processing center

contains motor cortex involved in speaking/muscle movements

contains somatosensory cortex involved in touch/pain

contains the auditory cortex

Two Hemispheres of brain are connected by the corpus callosum

• Associated Areas: involved in higher mental functions
• Prefrontal Cortex (PFC): area in the frontal lobe that enables judgement and planning

Had a rod exploded into him through a railroad accident. His reasoning, logical, and planning side of him was destroyed. He was highly emotional and animalistic.

Brain's ability to change due to experiences and damage

is the process by which new neurons are formed in the brain.